Economists polled by Reuters had forecast new home sales, which account for about 8.3 percent of the housing market, slipping to a 520,000 unit-rate last month.

Sales in the West, which has seen a sharp increase in home prices amid tight inventories, plummeted 32.1 percent to a 110,000 unit-rate, the lowest level since July 2014. The percent decline was the largest since May 2010.

Sales rose 3.4 percent in the Northeast, despite a blizzard in late January. They fell 5.9 percent in the Midwest and rose 1.8 percent in the populous South.

Though the new homes market appears to have cooled, with construction activity falling in January and homebuilder sentiment softening in February, housing in general remains supported by a tightening labor market, which is lifting wage growth and bolstering household formation.

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Alfonso Esparza specializes in macro forex strategies for North American and major currency pairs. Upon joining OANDA in 2007, Alfonso Esparza established the MarketPulseFX blog and he has since written extensively about central banks and global economic and political trends. Alfonso has also worked as a professional currency
trader focused on North America and emerging markets. He holds a finance degree from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESM) and an MBA with a specialization on financial engineering and marketing from the University of Toronto.

MarketPulse is a forex, commodities, and global indices analysis, and forex news site providing timely and accurate information on major economic trends, technical analysis, and worldwide events that impact different asset classes and investors.

This article is for general information purposes only. It is not investment advice or a solution to buy or sell securities.

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